[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/zhp2XL5.png[/img]

[color=firebrick][b]"If you see something... should you [i]always[/i] say something?"[/b][/color][/center]

The mirror had been snatched away from her, but Evil Eye looked like she'd chugged a quart's worth of espresso shots. Whether the hypnotism had any effect or if it was caused by what Michi said about Suki was hard to tell. For a moment, she sat still as Michi delivered her rant. It was hard to believe that this was even the same person she'd brought to the Construct-a-Cat store.

She wanted to say something clever, to show that for all Michi's superior airs, she didn't actually understand the Club at all—but for once, she was left speechless. She couldn't even refute anything Michi said. Despite outwardly expressing an interest in romance, Suki's appearance and outward-facing personality couldn't have been more effectively hand-crafted to push people away and self-sabotage her relationships. Perhaps she understood that on some level, or perhaps she didn't—but Kiyo definitely did, because although she took a more obsessive self-grooming tack, the end goal of her carefully maintained appearance was largely the same: to create a certain distance between herself and others. Evil Eye gained power from witnessing their misfortune—if she didn't quite "enjoy" others' suffering, she did see a benefit, that much was undeniable fact.

Roche was putting a stop to that rant now, but she had been sitting there from the start. It should have been [i]her[/i] to say something, [i]anything[/i] in her friends' defense, or even her own defense—but the fact that she needed the Club girls to have problems to keep her role in it was becoming too clear for her own comfort. She also saw herself in this terrible side of Michi: all-seeing, always judging... always plotting. Even now, Michi was suggesting something she herself once suggested in the Club room: to summon a giga miseria in Hibusa Town. The final insult was that it was her own fault for letting the viper into their midst. Even if Michi's accusations hadn't poisoned the well, what right did she have to chase after Suki now?

[color=firebrick][b]"There are nine members, Shuuko,"[/b][/color] Evil Eye finally replied to her question, her voice low and full of disappointment as she stood up again. It wasn't just her feeling low, either—it didn't take a Tsubomi to feel the swell of negative emotions at their table—and on further reflection, she noticed something else. She had been too stunned by Michi's words, too distracted by the strangeness of the day to notice the danger in the room.

[color=firebrick][b]"Too late! RUN!"[/b][/color] With little explanation, she flew after Suki and Haruna, tugging on both Hotaru and Ember's shoulders as she took off.